Method and system for in-line address quality and mail preparation on an indicia printing system

Abstract

The present application generally relates to mail processing equipment and techniques. More specifically, the present application relates to a mail processing system and related method for transporting and imaging addressed mail pieces of a mailing to qualify the mailing for postage discounts. An address analysis component of the mail processing system compares the address included on a respective mail piece to postal authority standards for compliance with requirements for discounted postage based on pre-sort rules. A postage metering component prints the discounted postage indicia and a printing component prints delivery point barcodes.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A method of processing a mailing including a plurality of addressed mail pieces, the method comprising:
 loading the plurality of mail pieces onto a feeder for individually feeding a first and second mail piece into a mail processing system;   individually transporting first and second mailpieces to an imaging component of the mail processing system;   imaging an address for each of the first and second mailpieces;   reading the address images of the first and second mail pieces with an (OCR) device;   comparing the read addresses of the first and second mail pieces to a client address list to determine if the read addresses of the first and second mail piece are present on the client list;   rejecting the first mail piece upon a determination that the read address of the first mail piece is determined not to be on the client list or the first mail piece is marked to be purged; and   continue processing the second mail piece upon a determination that the read address of the second mail piece is determined to be on the client list.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein continued processing of the second mail piece further comprises:
 obtaining a weight for the second mail piece;   printing a pre-sort mail discounted meter postage indicia on the second mail piece based on the qualified address and the obtained weight; and   printing a postal authority delivery point barcode on the second mail piece, which corresponds to the delivery point of the qualified address in the clear zone on the second mailpiece.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein rejecting the first mail piece further comprises:
 diverting the first mail piece from the mail processing system.